Teachers unions lash out at Raimondo for veto of 'continuing contracts' bill

Katherine Gregg Journal Political Writer kathyprojo

Thursday

Jul 20, 2017 at 2:08 PMJul 20, 2017 at 10:07 PM

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Gov. Gina Raimondo's veto of a bill to extend expired municipal and teacher contracts indefinitely has sparked an override campaign by teachers unions, ending whatever temporary peace she may have forged with them.

"I think that the classified ad is out: 'Real Democrat wanted for governor of Rhode Island,"' Robert Walsh, executive director of the National Education Association Rhode Island, said Thursday.

Alleging that Raimondo told him face-to-face, in a private meeting, that she intended to veto the contract-extension bill because her "donors don't like it," Walsh said his union feels obligated to actively recruit a candidate to run against Raimondo in a 2018 Democratic gubernatorial primary.

Walsh named several up-and-coming Democrats, suggesting they may have awakened on Thursday morning to the realization they don't have to wait until 2022 for their next big political move.

"I think there are 10,000 scenarios out there where people of ambition are now looking at timing and saying this may be their time, and I don't think that was the case three months ago," he said.

"The governor deeply respects the important role that organized labor plays in our shared efforts to grow the economy and provide opportunity for every Rhode Islander and she firmly supports collective bargaining," he said.

But "the governor is most urgently concerned with protecting Rhode Island's taxpayers. Mayors, town managers and school leaders from every corner of Rhode Island — most of them Democrats — urged the governor to veto this legislation."

Frank Flynn, the president of the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers & Healthcare Professionals, and J. Michael Downey, president of Council 94, AFSCME, also vowed Thursday to seek an override vote by state lawmakers of the contract-continuation bill, which evolved from a Warwick teachers' contract dispute to a top labor priority this year.

In her veto message, Raimondo said, “Current Rhode Island law protects the taxpayers from being obligated indefinitely for contract provisions that, in the future, may not be affordable.

“The proposed legislation before me extinguishes this existing protection, hurting the public’s position in contract negotiations, and placing taxpayers at risk of being forever locked into contractual provisions they can no longer afford.”

"It's politics," Walsh said of the veto. "And in all honesty, I think it's a political miscalculation... Now we're back in the legislature. The legislature showed strong support for it."

But Raimondo, a Democrat, was cheered by the Rhode Island League for Cities and Towns for vetoing a "perpetual contracts bill...[that] would have tied the hands of local officials and made it harder to negotiate in the best interests of taxpayers.

"Employees would have no incentive to make concessions on wages, health care or work conditions," the league's executive director Brian Daniels said. "We would like to thank Governor Raimondo for standing up for cities and towns and Rhode Island taxpayers by vetoing the perpetual contracts bill."

Made up of mayors and town leaders of all political stripes, the league had campaigned hard against the bill.

In a July 5 letter to Raimondo, Pawtucket Mayor Donald Grebien, a Democrat, wrote, "In the vast majority of cases in Rhode Island, the parties do agree to continue their contract terms until they can complete negotiations. For that reason alone, this legislation is unnecessary."

But he also recounted how close his city was to bankruptcy when he took office six years ago.

"Had this legislation been in effect at the time, the State would have [had] no other option than to place Pawtucket in bankruptcy," he wrote.

Asked if legislative leaders anticipate an override vote, Senate spokesman Peter Capineri had no immediate comment. House spokesman Larry Berman said Speaker Nicholas Mattiello needs to talk with the sponsors of the legislation — and other lawmakers — before deciding whether to take an override vote.

State GOP Chairman Brandon Bell pounced on Walsh's allegation about Raimondo taking her cues from her donors.

“Can you believe this? Even when Governor Raimondo does the right thing, she does it for the wrong reason. Instead of vetoing this bad legislation to protect the taxpayers, she did it to keep her donors happy," said Bell, suggesting Raimondo may have "crossed a line here."

"If Mr. Walsh is telling the truth," the attorney general should investigate, Bell said.

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